Isabella Tomasek

Honors English 12
May 29, 2015

Wuthering Heights Character Project

In the story, there are protagonists and antagonists. Protagonists are mainly the characters
being attacked or those who do nothing wrong. Antagonists are the characters that start the fights
and the characters that are evil. In Wuthering Heights, the protagonists mainly consist of
Heathcliff, Hindley, Catherine, Linton, somewhat Hareton, Joseph, and Kenneth. The antagonists
consist of Nelly, Edgar, Isabella, Frances, Lockwood, Cathy, and Hareton.

Conflict One
In the beginning of the story, Mr. Earnshaw brings home a young, orphaned boy named
Heathcliff. His own children, Catherine and Hindley, do not like that because Mr. Earnshaw
tends to favorite Heathcliff, even though they are all now brothers and sister. Straight from the
beginning, Heathcliff is not welcome. There is a sense of foreignness to his being there and he is
definitely not wanted around, especially by Hindley. As they grow older, Catherine starts to
accept Heathcliff and finds him fascinating. Hindley absolutely despises Heathcliff for a reason
we are not totally sure of. He goes out of his way to make sure Heathcliff is not welcome. Over
time, though, the places switch. Heathcliff begins to go out of his way to make Hindleys life
terrible, especially when it comes to petty things like having a lame pony. A sense of revenge has
been set and it follows through for the rest of the novel. Since Hindley felt the need to go out of
his way to make Heathcliffs life miserable, Heathcliff has made it his priority to get revenge and
to make Hindley hate his life more than anything else in this world, but his love for Catherine
stands in his way. She would be utterly displeased and hateful towards Heathcliff if Heathcliff
killed Hindley. Heathcliff is stuck on the conflict of how to get his revenge on Hindley. In a way,
the conflict that burdens him is both internal and external. It is internal because it pains him to
see how Hindley has no repercussions for his attitude towards Heathcliff. It is external because
no matter what, Heathcliff has to deal with Hindley every single day- day in and day out. It
aggravates him and makes him despise everything within his life because he is unsure of how to
get revenge on Hindley. Although Heathcliff is the protagonist, Hindley adds to the problem. He
makes sure to treat Heathcliff with no respect, even after they are older. In the end, Heathcliff
gets his revenge on Hindley by making his own child, Hareton, ignorant. He followed through
with the same treatment he got growing up- no tutor or schooling, no time with anyone from the

outside, and no communication with anyone or access to any of his inheritance as if he is a

servant.
Conflict Two
Another main conflict in Wuthering Heights, is the conflict of society and class. In the
novel, Heathcliff falls in love with Catherine. Catherine falls in love with Heathcliff too, but then
Edgar comes into the picture and puts a huge burden on the two lovers. Edgar is of higher class.
He is wealthy and good looking- the complete opposite of Heathcliff. All Heathcliff wants is
Catherine to love him and be with him, but the burden of Edgar is standing in the way. At one
point of the book, Nelly and Catherine are speaking about her situation. Catherine states how she
has feelings for Heathcliff, but then she totally insults him by saying that it would degrade her to
be with him. Heathcliffs society and class ruin the chance and possibility of him actually being
with Catherine. This conflict proves to mainly be internal because as soon as this happens,
unbeknownst to Catherine, Heathcliff hears and runs away because his feelings are hurt.
Catherine fueled the fire and was the reason why Heathcliff left. Due to his abrupt parting,
Catherine now has her mind made up on Edgar. She marries him and into his wealthy family. Not
too long after, Heathcliff returns with a complete change. He comes back wealthy and built
within his body, as if he was a soldier. In the end, the conflict is not really even resolved.
Heathcliff does not get Catherines love in return and he dies alone.
Conflict Three
Another conflict in Wuthering Heights would be the self centeredness that Linton has for
himself. In the story, Linton gets beat upon by Heathcliff, his father. Cathy, Lintons future wife,
comes into his life, Linton takes the rightful place as the victim. All he wants is pity for how bad
his life is and attention to make up for the lack that he has received. Unfortunately, all Cathy

wants is to be with her father while he is laying on his deathbed. She wants to be able to see him
at peace and spend the moments that she can, with him, before he dies, so that stands in his way.
The conflict of his self centeredness is mainly internal because he just wants the feeling of
someone to be around, even if thats not what that person wants. He makes it an external conflict
when he starts acting like a child by throwing himself around and making himself even sicker.
Linton makes the conflict bigger than it needs to be by only focusing on himself. In the end,
Cathy resolves the conflict by obliging to his wants and staying with him, instead of leaving to
go be with her dying father. Due to the resolution, Cathy learns that she is going to have a lot to
put up with and care for as soon as moves to Wuthering Heights.

Dear Diary,
Another day has passed where all I wish for is
to see Hindley be gone and out of my presence.
Day in and day out, the thought of him being
around makes me feel utter agony and hatred. I
have had many opportunities to put an end to my
misery, but the thought of Catherine hating me
puts a halt to my actions. My love for her is
endless, even though the only thing I want in this
world is revenge on Hindley for what he did to me.
She is the only reason why Hindley is safe. If she
were hurt because he was hurt, I would never be
able to forgive myself. As time goes on, Hindley
digs himself in a deeper hole, with his tombstone
at the top. The next time he treats me as a servant

like Nelly or Joseph, he will have to suffer with the

consequences coming to him. As for now, I am
counting down for it to happen because I so very
crave the taste of pleasure from a serving of cold
revenge.
~Heathcliff

Dear Diary,
My dearest Hindley has yet pushed another
foot deeper into his grave. Ever since marrying
Isabella and bringing her to Wuthering Heights, he
has made sure to find a way to turn her against
me. Since I have last written, things with my
darling Catherine have been rough. The love of my
life is very ill and I am waiting for the day that her

beautiful body stops working. Until then, I am here

dealing with everyone against me. Hindley and
Isabella created a scene where they wouldnt let
me into my own house. Isabella locked the doors
and I had to break through the window to try to get
in. The amount of hatred that is forming for her is
almost as much as the heap that I have saved
especially for Hindley. After breaking in through the
window, I beat Hindley more than I ever have
before. The amount of satisfaction I got from that
was actually very pleasing. I cannot wait to find out
how it feels to finally have the revenge that I so
desire upon him. I can only imagine how pleasant I
will feel.
~Heathcliff

Dear Diary,
Since Hindleys death, my plan for revenge has
worked out to my favor. Hareton is an absolute
nightmare. I have never been in acquaintance with
someone so very ignorant as him. The poor fellow
cannot even read. Catherines dear daughter and
my own Linton take pleasure upon teasing him for
his ignorance. I do enjoy it as well. But, for some
reason, I cannot hate Hareton. In fact, I feel love for
the poor lad and I am unsure as to why. In a way, I
can relate to him, but I feel bad for the fact that
the revenge that I had sought out had to be placed
upon him. For at the end of the day, I prefer to
have Hareton as my son over my very own blood,
Linton. Although I pity him, I do not regret the path

that I have taken to make my enemys spawn

ignorant as he had made me. For now, I enjoy
seeing him uneducated and dumber than an ass.
Unfortunately, every time I look at him, all I see is
my beloved Catherine. Oh, how nothing will ever
match up to the love that I have for her.
~Heathcliff